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...
Also did anyone else have difficulty posting on the forum last night? I was having so much difficulty posting that I simply waited until morning to post this. Must be something wrong with a server.

I have found that there are often problems about midnight eastern time, which is about 8 AM Swedish time - they might be regularly bouncing their servers.

Originally Posted by Surume

They also mean that the country label, “Icelandic Africa” will be even bigger when displayed, which is the most important thing

I completely agree!

Originally Posted by Surume

(Your homework for today is to tell me why I wasn't expecting [GP status], and what it means, both Bad and Good for me.)

You weren't expecting it because it seems a little odd that an unarmed tiny nation with one tiny colony is considered one of the 8 greatest powers in the world?

The Bad is that you can't be in anyone's SOI anymore, and it also seems to be a lot harder to make alliances with GPs.

the Good is that it's Good to be Great! You can now start influencing, having somebody in your SOI could help you with your materials. Also, it may be that if you SOI somebody with a naval base you can use that as a colonization jump-off-point.

You're doing fantastically, my only piece of advice would be to recruit a brigade as soon as your colony lets you, and use that to accelerate your colonization. And/or conquer sokoto

Author of the CK2 Matchmaker - a tool that analyzes your save-games to help you find that perfect noble.

Author of the Victoria2 advisor - a tool that analyzes your save-games and gives you useful info.

This is awesome, hopefully you can keep your population growing and keep the outflow going to your colonies.

"To this later, for now I just want you not to stand in the sun." -Diogenes of Sinope, upon being asked if there is anything he wants by Alexander the Great.

"This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures." -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Sometimes, I think the choppiness comes whenever I log into the server. But it's actually a storm tonight, so at least there's an excuse. Another thing I forgot to mention - you might be able to utilize this as a bait n switch technique. Lure the AIout into a colonial skirmish, then claim a different piece of land while they're running around about it - as long as it doesn't turn military, it's a net gain for you.

Chatting with the friendly ghosts of Voltairine, Haywood, Goldman, Makhno, and Berkman.

Hey just read through all this as I have a soft spot for a good underdog story!

You weren't expecting to be a great power, because colony != state... but seems to in this case. Heh.

As for the bad and the good...

Originally Posted by Surume

June 12th - Our goals to befriend Great Britain has succeeded as much as it can at the moment, with military access and high relations. The eventual hope is for them to sphere me at some point.

I guess that goes out the window now that you are a GP. No big daddy to watch your back. Have to fend for your own tiny self in the big bad world. Maybe countries will be more antagonistic towards you, wanting their own place amongst the powers. I haven't seen that to be the case in my games, but we will see.

The upsides are plenty I guess. Been able to produce your own sphere (If you can stay a GP.. hopefully you can!). This nets you more resources and possibly some new allies. They won't be in the UK caliber, but it could help. There is also that extra boost to your already high research points.

I haven't given up just yet. Expect an update soon, either tomorrow or the day after, on american Thanksgiving. If anyone has any last minute advice, give it now or forever hold your peace.

P.S. - I won't be using soldiers to speed up colonization. Even though it would help me greatly, because the AI doesn't use it IT just wouldn't be fair. Also, I want competition! It's only a two country race at the moment, but France or Spain or the OE could join as soon as they research the appropriate techs.

By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent. -Emerson

Might be a good time for a factory, unless you already have one and I missed it. Seems a shame to have unemployed Icelanders emigrating to the Americas and assimilating to something else, and sadly not all of them will be attracted to your new African colony.

Rastar - I do not have any factories. My hope and plan is to mainly expand the Icelandic people through constant colonial immigration, but I'm not sure how successful that will work. If the RGO's in my colonies ever fill up, I'll be sure to construct factories.

On another note, I was nominated for the Fan of the Week, just recently. I'd like to thank Communitarian! who gave the nomination. While I have been a member of the community for a short time, I have been lurking for quite some time now, and I will make sure one of my adoring fans does get the reward.

Update in 3 Minutes.

Last edited by Surume; 29-11-2010 at 23:43.

By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent. -Emerson

Part the Seventh - The Wating Game 3: Electric Boogaloo

We begin this chapter by continuing to colonize Africa, specifically the Eastern Sahara.. Considering that I am now a GP, I get many bonuses and a few maluses. A short listing of Bonuses

-Increased RP Gain - This is incredibly Invaluable, as it allows for me to research more and more quickly.

-Increased Leadership Gain - More Leadership means more Military Leaders. This means that my MIL Score goes higher. Previously I was averaging at about 15 total leaders as they died and recruited more. I think that I will probably shift up to about 20, although that is only assuming I am able to continue as a GP, which isn’t a given.

-Increased Prestige - I automatically gain more prestige as a GP. Although it’s not much, every little bit helps.

-Great Power Events - There are many and varied events associated with being a GP. Their are also events which occur more often as I am a GP. I’ll be sure to mention them when I get them, but I cannot and should not count on getting them.

-Sphere of Influence - The Sphere of influence system is part of what defines the GP in the game. As a GP, the primary use for a GP is economic. However, as I am Iceland, I do get to use the Sphere of Influence for a Pan-National Union. Whether or not I’ll be able to do this will be interesting. Listening to other persons, in specific Badger_Ken with his Denamark AAR, it seems as though it will be difficult in getting the Danish provinces which Austria took, and it seems like I will have to contend with Russia for Sweden. I’ll try to Sphere both, but at the same time I think I will expand into my Sphere as what benefits me the best economically, as I will need to support my pops the best I can if I am to industrialize. If anyone has any suggestions regarding what countries I should expand into, I’d be more than happy to here them.

And a listing of the Maluses

-Great Power events - As a GP, other countries will have events against me, creating various Casus Belli. Honestly any type of Casus Belli is bad for me, as it means war which I am most definitely not ready for.

-Sphere of Influence - As a GP, I cannot be sphered by other countries, as was my intention. If I was to have been sphered, preferably by either France or the UK, that would have given me economic protection and Military protection, as the AI seems to be Ally Happy with states in it’s sphere.

-Secondary Powers - The AI of the Secondary Powers is programmed to be aggressive against the 8th ranked GP. This means that Spain, and the Ottoman Empire are likely to get in my grill, and could at any time attack if I display weakness.

Besides this, there is a few things which I also have to resolve, If I am to continue on as a GP. I am a GP mostly by virtue of my incredibly Prestige Alone. If I am to stay in the 8th ranking, I will need to get additional score from somewhere else. Let’s look at the possible locations for this increase.

-Military Score - This is both the simplest way, and the most difficult way. Currently my military score consists of nothing but Officers. At some point in the future, If I am to get a significant Military score, I will require either a land army, or many, many ships, probably dreadnoughts. Of these two options, I am more inclined to use the Dreadnought option. This option means that I will not have to waste a segment of my invaluable population with soldiering, and that I will not have to fund a class of citizens which do nothing during peacetime. However, If I do this, I will require significantly more money each day, in order to support the maintenance costs of this fleet in being.

-Industrial Score - This is arguably the most complex way. Currently my population is growing and emigrating into my colonies. To gain any appreciable industrial score, I will require factories which are almost fully manned. These two things are counter to each other, as currently the only location in which I can construct any type of factory is in the Icelandic homeland, Reykjavik. In practice, what this means is that I will need to be full of population in both my colonies and the mainland before I can start building. As I said before, I don’t know exactly what I am to start with when I begin the construction of the vast industries of Iceland, but I am thinking of building Cement and Machine parts, both of which are staples to the factories of other nations, and perhaps later Radios and Automobiles, hopefully becoming the world’s provider before the UK gets in on the action. If any of you have advice on factories though, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, any industrial growth will really have to wait until I have finished growing my colonies.

-Prestige - Prestige has been my true and trusted friend throughout this entire venture, but at the moment, we are entering diminishing returns with it. The way that Industrial, Military, and Prestige scores are calculated and added together for ones total score mean that while I may be a hundred points over my nearest competitor, Spain, their industrial score will grow much faster than my Prestige can. I will try to remain competitive in this field for as long as I can because at the moment it really is the only field in which I can grow competitively in, but in the long run I need to move away from this.

In summation, what this all means is that I need to begin to develop factories and a high tech navy as soon as it becomes possible for me to do so, likely following the end of my colonization of Africa. Once that occurs, Hopefully I will be able to maintain and even grow my ranking, but this all seems unlikely. I feel unsure about this, but I will try my best in doing this. I will not be surprised though If I lose my Great Power Status, and will not kill myself in maintaining it.

So let’s begin playing a bit of the game.

March 6th, 1877 - The day after attaining Great Power status. All of the factors which affect me as a GP begin to take influence. This quickens my current research, Steam Turbines to finish in Mid October. As I said, I begin to influence both Denmark and Sweden into my Sphere. I do not really expect it to go anywhere, but I may as well try.

March 8th - As I predicted, both France and the UK discredit me out of Sweden and Denmark Respectively. At this time I also notice another competitor to the African Race, Prussia. They are currently colonizing the Asmara Region, from Naval Bases in Prussian Hedjaz presumably.

March 22nd - The Naval Base in Aaiun begins construction now that we have bought enough timber.

April 3rd - The Dakhla Naval base begins construction

April 22nd - I finally notice my main fear in the colonial race, France. Insidious as they are, they decide it is best to try and contend the Mauritarian Coast which England is already colonizing.

August 1st - Mechanical Saw

August 16th - Spain bows out to Anarcho-Liberals - I have to say while the v1.2 did fix alot of the Rebel woes, I think that their are still a few underlying problems. Nevertheless, it is good to see a weakened Spain.

October 14th - Steam Turbines finish. I continue by accumulating RP for the advent of 1880.

November 1st - Cracking

December 30th - Denmark is Cordial

January 1st, 1878 - Sharp’s and Robert’s Power Loom

January 20th - I notice Russia continuing to not make sense by colonizing the Northwest Territory of Alaska, despite that it is Canadian Cored and landlocked.

March 8th - “Botanical Expedition Reports Back” - We choose to support our boys, as Prestige is our only thing we have going. Is it just me or does it seem like this expedition has been going on forever? Also Sweden is now at Cordial with us.

June 18th - “Sabotage” - We denounce the profiteering of the nonexistent Upper Class. Is it just me or is it weird that I got a whole slew of events in short order. I mean the MTTH System allows for this, but it still is weird. Also how do I have my nonexistent factories be sabotaged?

June 26th - In Dakhla, the Icelandic Colonial Immigration shows it’s influence. Icelandic is now the most common Culture, representing 36% of the Population. Unfortunately the pop is only 3k

August 8th - Denmark is Friendly

September 1st - Northrup Power Loom

September 10th - Russia bans our Swedish Embassy. As I mentioned earlier, it will be difficult and unlikely to sphere Sweden.

December 1st - Jacquard Power Loom

Febuaray 1st, 1879 - Anti-Egalitarianism

April 1st - Mechanical Precision Saw

April 6th - Denmark is Sphered

August 11th - We begin to Influence Egypt, hoping to get the right’s to construct the Suez Canal

October 1st - Dogma of Mass Action

November 1st - Dogma of Violence

November 18th - We receive a Grievous Insult against Egypt. Darn. We choose to take the relations hit and the CB as we cannot afford to lose prestige.

December 5th - Cuba declares independence from Spain. I believe this is the first time I’ve ever seen an independent Cuba. They aren’t really set up to become a World Power overnight, but they have something. Also they have a nifty Red white and Yellow Flag.

I also notice that the CSA is almost ready to challenge my GP Status, with 447 points to Iceland’s 449. They have industrialised fantastically, and are getting the traditional American Immigration I presume.

December 15th - We have a six month timer to regain 8th.

January 1st, 1880 - The UK has decided to host the Congo Conference. I also begin to research Phenomenology and Hermeneutics, progressing at a rate of 1000RP per day from my stockpile.

January 11th - Portugual declares war on Egypt for the Dumyat Region. Considering this recent development, I stop trying to influence Egypt, and instead refocus my efforts on Cuba, which does not have any GPs influencing it. While it is not particularly valuable, it’s uncontended. Honestly this is a bad choice, as I should have been focusing all available Influence into Sweden during the few instances when I am not banned.

January 19th - Phenomenology and Hermenutics finish. RP Gain is now at 43 points per day. I continue with electricity, the final Pop Growth Tech.

January 31st - The CSA declares war on the USA. I hope that this means the CSA is trounced and removed from being a GP contender. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that a US victory will occur prior to my removal from the G8.

February 1st - Electricity uses up my final RP Stockpile. ETA for the tech is Mid June. I also get the Mechanized Slaughtering Block.

February 3rd - “The Congo Conference” - We take part, as the natural resources of the Congo region would be invaluable and I have the money and infamy to spare.

February 9th - Prussia Dows Austria - I feel like that this might be the decisive campaign to see who controls the Germanic people. I expect a Prussian victory, but not by much.

March 9th - The Naval base in Aaiun finishes. Also for some reason, the CSA loses the points to challenge my GP status for the moment. This gives me a moment of reprieve.

March 19th - Naval base in Dakhla finishes. - This gives me the colonial range to reach the Ivory coast, if I wanted to colonize their.

June 12th - Electricity finishes. I continue with the Combustion Engine which looks like it will finish in a little over a year.

June 18th - The CSA has the points to contend me again. The six month timer restarts.

September 8th - Cuba is Cordial in their relation to us.

November 1st - X-Rays. This means we have the most population growth which will be possible in the game, with 0.24% in Iceland proper, and 0.13% in my colonies.

November 26th - The US expands their war goals to Annex the CSA. Hopefully this will be a removal of the contending nation to the GP Status of Iceland. Under the CSA in rankings is Mexico and Spain, but both of them are more than 100 points under my score.

December 17th - The CSA takes Great Power Status. My RP gain drops by a small amount, but any loss is not good.

JAnaury 7th, 1881 - A new trend begins, one which is not desirable in the least. Austria’s ally, Sweden, has been a target of an adventurous expansion to the Prussia War Claims by Mecklenburg, requesting Vestlandent. If this happens, it will be even more difficult to form Scandanavia.

April 26th - “Dental Care Bill” I choose to take “Force It Through”, as I am unsure on the specifics of the event. With a number of events and decisions in the game, it will replace the actual level with this lower level of reform. I don’t want this to happen in the lightest, although the other results wouldn’t be something which I would be adverse to. I believe that this is fixed in a few of the unofficial hotfixes going around, and if anyone can tell me if this is true with this event in specific, that’d be great, but I’m not going to be risking it. The consciousness of my pops increase, even in my colonies.

August 17th - UK finish’s colonizing the Northern Cape. They choose to next colonize Guinea, thankfully a province which isn’t one of my targets. I think that the AI is precluded to colonize desert regions last, as they should, meaning my colonial dreams should progress unhindered.

September 1st - Hermeneutics. This pushes me up to 8th again, hopefully meaning that I become a GP soon.

October 1st - Tractors - This triggers the event “The First Tractor in X” I believe, which would be a quality event for almost all of my current provinces.

December 1st - Prussia finishes colonizing Asmara, and begins on Somaliland. The eastern coast of Africa will look interesting.

January 1st, 1882 - The upper house rearranges, finally pushing my Liberals into 50%. This allows me to implement Universal Voting, although this is superseded by my Women’s Suffrage. This means that my pops all lose their consciousness, and now do not increase in consciousness because they want political reform. I have a very minimal subset of my population which desire changes to the Voting system or the Upper house representation.

Febuaray 4th - We become a GP again. we begin sphereing immediately, dividing our Influence between Sweden and Denmark.

Febuaray 11th - France discredits us in Denmark

March 12th - Hamburg expands the war claims, requesting Swedish Ostlandet. In some very bad news, Austria looks as though it is a cloud in the midst of a rainbow.

April 19th - Interchangeable Parts finish. We continue with Steamers, in order to get Mechanized Fishing Vessels as soon as possible.

May 20th - The Congo forms, as a vassal state of Sardinia Piedmont. I begin to influence them considering my other prospects for sphereing are unlikely.

August 1st - Jiggs

October 3rd - Steamers finish, I continue with Semi-Automatization.

October 26th - An unexpected event occurs.

The formation of Italy means many things. The most important is that in six month’s time I will be losing GP status, permanently. The new Italian nation has an accumulated score of 676 points, much more than my 509. It also means that Their is a new player in the Mediterranean, and they are likely to try to go for Africa in some way.

November 1st - Steamer Automatic Construction Plants

November 28th - UK finishes colonizing the Mauritarian Coast. I now neighbor the two most powerful nations on earth. They continue on by colonizing Senegal. I guess that this is the AI’s attempt to contain my own colonization.

France, with it’s Northern Africa attempts in colonization stymied, begin to colonize around the Ivory Coast and Central Africa, where is is uncontested.

March 20th, 1883 - Denmark is Friendly again, although spending influence doesn’t really have any value at the moment.

April 1st - Electrical Lighting

April 26th - We lose our Great Power Status to Italy.

May 2nd - “Botanical Expedition Stranded” - The cause of science demands it, and has left us with a simple equation:

Originally Posted by Science Corner

P>M, where P represents Prestige and M represent Money.

May 16th - As I predicted, Italy Dows Egypt. I expect Italian Colonization to happen shortly.

June 4th - Sweden white peaces with Prussia. This is very reassuring, as if such states were taken they would become part of Germany when and if it forms. However, this does mean that Austria is screwed, or even more than it was, with the Prussian Alliance weighing in at a 540 Military score, and Austria reduced down to 80.

June 8th - We successfully colonize West Central Sahara. The words “Icelandic Africa” stretch across the desert sands.

I end with the State of the Nation.

Research wise, the gain of West Central Sahara means that we drop down to a clergymen ratio of 1.64%, much less than is desired. Hopefully this will correct, but this is probably the beginning of a drop in clergymen as I expand which I predicted.

This changes my pops somewhat, with about 77.6% of them Icelandic, while the remaining in size are as follows: Taureg, Berber, Bedouin, Maghrebi, and Maures. These are all expected to slowly assimilate to Icelandic, while Icelandic colonial immigration takes place, encouraging th development of new, subsidiary populations of Iceland. As follows is an image of my charts:

And more specifically the West Central Sahara, for those who want more info.

My future Colonial Ambitions and my neighbours colonial activity

And Iceland’s world rankings

Comments/Feedback/Predictions are always appreciated.

(Have my post's been getting wordier? Is this a bad thing? Also, what is the text limit on these forums?)

By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent. -Emerson

...
-Sphere of Influence If anyone has any suggestions regarding what countries I should expand into, I’d be more than happy to here them.

Well, I'm still feeling this out, but there are really 3 'tracks' for using your influence, and we tend to mainly focus on 1:

(1) SOIing countries you want to own for geo-strategic reasons, like Denmark/Iceland with Sweden.

(2) As a defensive measure, use your influence to knock out other GP's influence. This can be very effective e.g. to ensure that nobody Spheres country <X>. Try to keep yourself at "friendly" with 100 influence, and then discredit/expel/spit in the coffee of all attempts to grow influence there.

(3) As a trade measure. I think this is a lot of what the SOI system was originally designed for (e.g. SOI China so you can get lots of tea), but it doesn't seem to be that used or useful. But e.g. in your case, SOI-ing Cuba might be pretty handy on this criterion.

Originally Posted by Surume

.... At some point in the future, If I am to get a significant Military score, I will require either a land army, or many, many ships, probably dreadnoughts.

Also, on the dreadnought note, I was surprised to find that to construct dreadnoughts requires some advanced good (telephones, maybe?). If you race to the tech, but nobody is making telephones, it can be quite irritating

Originally Posted by Surume

...
January 20th - I notice Russia continuing to not make sense by colonizing the Northwest Territory of Alaska, despite that it is Canadian Cored and landlocked.

I have noticed the Russian actions in Vic2 rarely make sense - historically accurate, I suppose

Originally Posted by Surume

...December 5th - Cuba declares independence from Spain. I believe this is the first time I’ve ever seen an independent Cuba. They aren’t really set up to become a World Power overnight, but they have something. Also they have a nifty Red white and Yellow Flag.

I had an independent Cuba (and Phillipines!) in my Persia game.
As a fan of nifty flags, check out your potential avatars sometime - the number of flags they made for this game is stunning.

Originally Posted by Surume

...The upper house rearranges, finally pushing my Liberals into 50%.

I'm jealous - what's your secret? I've tried various techniques and never been able to crack 40% liberal in UH as either Denmark or Persia.

Author of the CK2 Matchmaker - a tool that analyzes your save-games to help you find that perfect noble.

Author of the Victoria2 advisor - a tool that analyzes your save-games and gives you useful info.

With regards to the 50% UH, I think the main thing pushing it liberal was my actions during elections, (in which I encouraged liberalness), the fact that about 25% of the population wanted the reform, and that I have made all social reform. The Socialists seem not to have much support when their is no reforms to push forwards, as my actions from earlier in the game enacted those way earlier than commonly possible.

By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent. -Emerson

Your colonies look great, however - how are they treating you economically? Basically, every time I grab a colony it tends to do wonky things to me unless it can be quickly made a state. Therefore, as much as I love filling the map up with interesting national colors - well, it can be problematic. Anyway, act fast and try to grab the Tuareg lands before France does. Er, if they do in this game. I'd almost suggest fighting Italy for GP status - but it's not worth it, more than likely. It'll tumble soon enough.

Chatting with the friendly ghosts of Voltairine, Haywood, Goldman, Makhno, and Berkman.

Communitarian - My colonies are not really that great economically. They mostly just don't have the population to do anything, but that will change over time. Considering my goal of spreading the Icelandic people as far as I can, I think that this will be more successful, as I am seeding each province, through Colonial Immigration, with it's own Icelandic pops, which will grow and be assimilation targets.

With regards to the creation of states, this is problematic for several reasons. First of all, the entirety of my bureaucrats come from the colonies. I don't have any in my my home provinces at all. Second, I think that creating states would adversely affect my colonial immigration, as I think that the modifiers aren't so nice for internal immigration. Despite this, I think that the sensible thing might be to cap my colonization soon, as if I continue to place seed populations, eventually I will hit the place of diminishing returns, as the seeds grow smaller and smaller, and expand in a smaller and smaller rate. However, I don't know this for certain, and we must test this for Science! (Also, I really like the title "Icelandic Africa". It's just really groovy and narbtacular and whatever else the youth these days use in their common lingua.)

Badger_ken - Just another reason not to make my colonies states.

Badger_ken (2) - I don't think that my literacy and RP gain would drop very much. Each of the desert provinces are very lightly populated, and all the Icelandic Pops are above 115% in their literacy. I think that even if I were to state, my average literacy would stay the same. I also have pretty much the best education in the game, only to be improved by getting Social Alienation and Mass Advertising.

Considering all this, and what I've done so far, I have another idea for my goal, expanding the Icelandic People. I think that I'll try this in a short 1 Post AAR, or maybe as a epilogue after I complete this one. The intention will be primarily comparison purposes between the AAR's and their endgame stats.

A question for you gentle persons. Is it possible to see what percentage of the worldwide population is of a certain culture? I realize that I have been suffering a constant external immigration to the USA and other American states for some time now, and am wondering if I can see what the size of those pops are. Also, if is possible, I think that I will include it in my count for the total Icelandic Pops.

By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent. -Emerson

95

With a little tear in my eye i have to tell you that you
only made Rank number 12 with your AAR.

For myself you are emotionaly a winner.
You came with no AAR experience, and took one of the
greatest challenges the game has to offer, and you did great for that!
Without giving up on the stoicism that is "the waiting game", or sleeping in

You also where in the Top 10 for a while,
and i am sad that you fell out of them in the end.
But be sure I, and many others, enjoyed your AAR a lot!

What your AAR maybe lacked in narrative,
it had in challenge and gameplay & entertainment.

And you missed the Top 10 only for 42 points,
as i said, a very close midfield we have.